WHAT DIFFERENCE A HASHTAG MAKES - #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS

Over three million people have tweeted about it by now. The #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign has seen a phenomenal uptake, with heads of state (and their wives), movie stars and women’s rights leaders all joining in to highlight the plight of the more than 200 school girls kidnapped by the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, in north-eastern Nigeria last month.

However, criticism of the campaign is mounting, with some comparing it to the ill-informed Kony2012 viral campaign to hunt down the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony. What is behind this ‘hashtag-activism?’ And will it really change anything for the victims? After all, nothing came of the Kony campaign.

Rather, world leaders and politicians should act instead of sending tweets.

Yet, it seems something is being done – at least in the short term. For the first time last week, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan agreed to accept help from international partners like the United States, Britain, France and perhaps even China and Israel. Reuters reported on Tuesday that US surveillance aircraft were being deployed to try and track down the missing girls.

THE 52 YEARS OLD CURSE OF BELA GUTTMAN HUNTS BENFICA AGAIN AS THEY LOST TO SEVILLA IN EUROPA CUP FINAL.

BELA GUTTMAN

The curse of Bela Guttman returned to haunt Benfica as Sevilla won a penalty shoot-out to beat the Portuguese giants to the Europa League trophy in Turin.

The Hungarian coach declared Benfica would never win another European final when being denied a pay-rise and leaving the club in anger having delivered back-to-back European Cups in 1961 and 1962.

Over the intervening 52 years, Benfica had since fallen short in the final on seven occasions, most recently conceding a late goal to Chelsea in Amsterdam to concede the 2013 Europa League crown.

On Wednesday night they could not be separated from Sevilla - UEFA Cup winners in 2006 and 2007 - over 120 minutes, and penalty misses from Oscar Cardozo and Rodrigo allowed substitute Kevin Gameiro to prolong their agony as Guttman's fateful words rang around the Juventus Stadium.

THE BATLLE FOR CONTROL OF APC INTENSIFIES.

A major struggle to grab the soul of All Progressives Congress, APC, from the grip of the pair of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) is on the way.

Leading the onslaught against the two national leaders is Chief Tom Ikimi, erstwhile national chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC. Ikimi, it is alleged, is the face of many of the governors are allegedly hoping to use Ikimi to assert their influence in the party.

The shape of the battle was formally expressed at a national caucus of the party in Abuja on Tuesday that lasted into the early hours of yesterday.

At that meeting, Tinubu and Ikimi were said to have engaged themselves in a shouting match that followed reservations from some party officials including Tinubu over the leakage of a memo from Ikimi to party elders.

RYAN GIGGS HAS BEEN OFFERED THE JOB AS MANCHESTER UNITED'S ASSISTANT MANAGER.

Ryan Giggs has been offered the job as Manchester United's assistant manager after having talks with Louis van Gaal on Wednesday, according to ESPN.

The Netherlands manager is set to be announced as the successor to the sacked David Moyes and Giggs, who had been in interim charge for the final four games of the season, will be given the chance to be his right-hand man, the source said.

The 40-year-old was pictured outside the Hotel Oranje in Noordwijk, Holland, after meeting Van Gaal, who had a day away from the Netherlands' pre-World Cup training camp in Hoenderloo on Wednesday.

NEW VIDEO - ADANWANNE - DJ RAX FT OREZI (@iamorezi)

ADANWANNE

The rise and rise of OREZI............ With love from Nigeria to Zimbabwe..........

He teams up with DJ RAX of Zimbabwe on this club banger titled Adanwanne...

Enjoy the visuals.....

CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

CAT SAVES LITTLE CHILD FROM STRAY DOG'S ATTACK.....

TROUBLE IN THE MILITARY AS SOLDIERS IN BORNO OPENED FIRE ON GOC'S VEHICLE TO PROTEST DEATH OF THEIR COLLEAGUES.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Ahmadu Mohammed, yesterday, escaped death as angry soldiers opened fire on his official vehicle when he came to address them at the Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

This came as local villagers succeeded in repelling a Boko Haram attack, killing about 200 of the sect members in the process.

Conflicting reports said the soldiers rebelled when they were forced to return to Maiduguri from Chibok as they considered it unsafe. The soldiers argued that it was dark and dangerous to return to Maiduguri that night.

BORNO STATE GOVERNOR DENIES ALLEGATION OF MISLEADING THE MILITARY ABOUT BOKO HARAM'S ACTIVITIES.

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has reacted to allegations by Chris Olukolade, Director of Defence Information, that he and Senators from the state gave the nation’s military misleading information about the Boko Haram sect.

Responding to an enquiry by our reporter, Isa Gusau, Special Adviser to the Governor on Communications said he had read Olukolade’s interview via online links.

“First of all, Governor Shettima will not join issues with the Defence Headquarters because he has so much respect for the military as he has proved over the years in his exact words and actions,” he noted via an email.

DAVIDO & TIWA SAVAGE NOMINATED FOR 2014 BET AWARDS PLUS SEE FULL LIST OF NOMINEES.

Recently married Tiwa Savage and Skelewu crooner  Davido have been nominated for the 2014 BET awards.

The duo have been nominated alongside South Africa’s Mafikizolo, Sarkodie of Ghana, Toofan of Togo and Diamond Platnumz of Tanzania in the Best International Act: Africa category.

As expected, Jay Z and Beyonce are leading with more nominations in the music category.

Nigerian-British Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and his 12 Years a Slave co-star Lupita Nyong’o also score nominations in Best Actor and Best Actress categories respectively. The award ceremony will take place on Sunday, 29th June, 2014 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

Wizkid & Sarkodie won in 2012 and Ice Prince in 2013.

See full list below after  the cut.

ALL WE NEED IS PEACE - STEVE BENJAMIN (@SteveBenjamin_)

JUDGE ORDERS PISTORIUS TO UNDERGO MENTAL EVALUATION.............

A South African prosecutor asked for Oscar Pistorius to be sent for a mental evaluation after a psychiatrist told the Olympic and Paralympic track star’s murder trial he had an anxiety disorder.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued he wanted to prevent the 27-year-old sprinter, who faces life in prison if convicted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, from later appealing on the basis of a disturbed mental condition.

Nel told the court there was a “reasonable possibility” that Pistorius suffers from a mental illness, adding that without a proper evaluation the case could later be appealed over Pistorius’ mental health.

CHECKING FURTHER SPREAD OF TERROR IN NIGERIA.

On the front burner of national discourse today are the incendiary activities of Boko Haram, the Islamist terror group that was initiated in 2002 in Bauchi and Borno states.  But the disclosure of the identities of five persons arrested in connection with the April 14, 2014 bomb blast at Nyanya in Abuja by the Department of State Service should provoke a new approach to checking the spread of terrorism in the country.

The profiles of the paraded suspects, including that of a military deserter who had served in the intelligence unit of the Nigerian Army and a son of a top retired army officer, coupled with their frightening confessions, especially the plans to launch “mass attacks against the Nigerian state,” clearly confirm the entrenchment of terrorism in the land.

VILLAGERS TOOK THEIR FATE IN THEIR OWN HANDS AS THEY ROUTED BOKO HARAM MILITANTS IN BORNO.

Reports from Borno indicates that a vigilante group made up of residents of Kalabalge, a town in Borno North, today mounted a fierce resistance to a siege by members of Boko Haram, inflicting severe casualties on militants from the fringe Islamist sect according to Sahara Reporters.

“We killed many of them [Boko Haram members] today,” one of the residents of the town who took part in the battle told a correspondents

Several other residents disclosed that the members of the community had received advance information that Boko Haram’s death squads were on their way to wreak havoc in the community. “Once we got the information, we gathered many of our young men and positioned ourselves in surrounding bushes and forests. We were armed with bows and arrows, Dane guns and pump action rifles,” said one source.

WHO WILL REPLACE THE OUTGOING INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE????

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, is expected to proceed on terminal leave any moment from now, having spent the mandatory number of years in service.

Abubakar, from Zamfara State, enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force on July 30, 1979 and is due for retirement on July 30, 2014, based on the mandatory retirement age.

Findings indicated that the replacement for Abubakar who became the acting IG on January 25, 2012, might be announced early next month by the government.

77 OF THE ABDUCTED CHIBOK GIRLS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED BY PARENTS - #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS.

Seventy-seven of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists, a month ago, have been identified from the video released Monday by the sect. This came as the United States disclosed that it is flying manned surveillance missions over Nigeria in an effort to pinpoint the location of the abducted schoolgirls.

The International Criminal Court, ICC, on its part described the abduction of the schoolgirls as a crime against humanity. The alleged conversion of the schoolgirls into Islam by the sect has also been condemned by Islamic groups and the All Progressives Congress, APC describing it as unacceptable. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said the forceful conversion is a call for war.

Following release of the video by sect leader, Mallam Abubakar Shekau showing scores of the girls wearing hijabs and reciting the Holy Q’uran, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima ordered mass production of the video to be shown to the parents of the abducted girls for identification.

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT BOKO HARAM LEADER ABUBAKAR SHEKAU.

In a field already crowded with bloodthirsty braggarts, the leader of Boko Haram has achieved the dubious distinction of becoming arguably the most menacing figure ever to appear in a jihadist video.

Vicious and sneering in equal measure, Abubakar Shekau’s cackling laughter and rambling manner give him more of the air of a psychopath than a militant. By comparison, the late Osama bin Laden comes across as almost measured. And as Nigeria has learned the hard way in the last five years, his terrifying on-screen persona is no act. Shekau is considered the group’s most ruthless commander by far, and has played a key role in taking it down the path of all-out war on the rest of Nigeria. While it is the kidnapping of the schoolgirls that has earned him world notoriety, his group is already believed to have murdered up 5,000 people in the last five years, many of them innocent villagers.

PHOTOS OF THE FIRST NYANYA BOMBERS.....

The Department of State Service has arrested five  persons  in connection with the April 14, 2014 bomb blast at the El-Rufai Motor Park, Nyanya  in Abuja.

The   suspects  are  Ahmad Abubakar (aka Abu Ibrahim/Maiturare), Mohammed Ishaq,   Yau Saidu (aka Kotar Rama), Anas Isah and Adamu Yusuf.

The  DSS Deputy Director, Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar,  who paraded the suspects in Abuja  on Monday,  said the masterminds of the blast, Rufai Tsiga (aka Dr. Tsiga), and a military deserter, Aminu Ogwuche, had been declared wanted.

Ogar  announced a cash reward of N25m  for information that could lead to their arrest.

VIDEO OF ABDUCTED CHIBOK SCHOOL GIRLS - #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS

ABDUCTED GIRLS

A new video released by Islamist militants Boko Haram claims to show around 100 girls kidnapped from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014.

The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, said they would be held until all imprisoned militants had been freed.

He said the girls had converted to Islam. The video, released on Monday, claims to show them praying.

Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls from northern Nigeria on April 14 and threatened to sell them.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD VIDEO.

(VIDEO) - Solange Knowles attacks her sister's husband - Jay Z In Elevator.

SOLANGE KNOWLES ATTACKS JAYZ

A new video obtained by TMZ allegedly shows Solange Knowles beating her sister's husband,Jay Z, in an elevator.

According to their source, the brawl took place at the Standard Hotel in NYC during a Met Gala after party. 

In the video, Solange is seen entering into an elevator followed by Beyonce, Jay Z and a body guard. Solange immediately gets in Hov’s face and has to be restrained by the body guard. 

At this point, Solange gets heated and begins employing all types of wild martial art shit, causing Hov to throw up the Roc sign with one hand, on some “You better chill the fuck out before stepping to the god.” It looks like he’s about to swing on her but restrains himself.

Beyoncé barely reacts at first, and only tries to jump in once Solange starts with the Liu Kang kicks. 

The video has no audio so the conversation that took place remains unknown.

FOUR NIGERIANS AND AN HUNGARIAN JAILED FOR ARRANGING SHAM MARRIAGES IN THE UK

Azuka Izegbune

Four fake brides and an ex-security guard fixer involved in an eight-month sham marriage scam have been jailed.

Azuha Izegbune, 38, was the mastermind of the visa con - which saw fake weddings staged at registry offices in Birmingham, Stoke and Glasgow.

The former security guard from Birmingham, West Midlands, was paid to arrange fake weddings between Hungarian and Nigerian nationals so they could remain in the UK. The weddings were arranged so both brides and grooms could secure European Area Residence Cards.

Some of the grooms were flown in to the UK just hours before the fake ceremonies took place. Following a Home Office probe, the scam was exposed - and those involved have now been sentenced to a total of nine years in jail at Birmingham Crown Court.